Hi,
I am thinking about getting a one piece kiln (to fire one piece at a time). I think a clam shell would be best 14-15 inches. Any recomendations? As far a I can see the Paragon CS14D fits the bill but I don't know about the 120V part of it. I think Evenheat makes a similar kiln with 240V available Studio Pro 15, but I think the Paragons are better made but the RampmasterIII is attractive and reasonably priced upgrade to the Evenheat. Is there that much operating cost difference 120V vs 240V?
Also, can these sit on a plywood workbench safely? Any down side to clam shell vs a hot box style? Any kiln supliers that do good deals on shipping and price?
Thanks in Advance,
Dave
Medium size clam shell
Moderators: Brad Walker, Tony Smith
-
JestersBaubles
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:01 am
- Location: North Logan, UT
- Contact:
Re: Medium size clam shell
I have a Paragon Fusion 14, which is a similar kiln in size and voltage.
Think about how you will use the kiln... a 14" firebrick kiln is a lot of thermal mass to heat on 120V. My Fusion 14 is great for normal fusing, but it struggles with high temp work such as pot melts or combing. It can't effectively ramp much faster than 500 deg/hr, if that. Not a big issue in most instances, but pieces do see more heat work in it than my other kilns. The Evenheat comes with a fiber lid, and you can upgrade the Paragon to fiber. Definitely think about the fiber lid, at least in terms of heating capabilities of the kiln.... someone else will have to chime in about element replacement.
Sentry three-key controllers are OK (much better than the 3-key on my Cress drop-bottom), but I LOVE the Rampmaster on my Skutt. If it didn't break the budget, I would upgrade.
Clamshell vs. top opening -- There's a lot of knuckle scraping that goes on in my top loading Fusion 14, trying to get the shelf in
.
Are you sure the 14" is big enough? The shelf is probably 13 inches for the kiln.
I have purchased two of my kilns from Clay-king.com. At the time, they had the lowest prices on what I was looking for and was quite pleased with ordering/shipping. The other two kilns came from wholesalers. If you have an account at D&L, they typically have pretty good prices and are good folks.
Dana
Think about how you will use the kiln... a 14" firebrick kiln is a lot of thermal mass to heat on 120V. My Fusion 14 is great for normal fusing, but it struggles with high temp work such as pot melts or combing. It can't effectively ramp much faster than 500 deg/hr, if that. Not a big issue in most instances, but pieces do see more heat work in it than my other kilns. The Evenheat comes with a fiber lid, and you can upgrade the Paragon to fiber. Definitely think about the fiber lid, at least in terms of heating capabilities of the kiln.... someone else will have to chime in about element replacement.
Sentry three-key controllers are OK (much better than the 3-key on my Cress drop-bottom), but I LOVE the Rampmaster on my Skutt. If it didn't break the budget, I would upgrade.
Clamshell vs. top opening -- There's a lot of knuckle scraping that goes on in my top loading Fusion 14, trying to get the shelf in
. Are you sure the 14" is big enough? The shelf is probably 13 inches for the kiln.
I have purchased two of my kilns from Clay-king.com. At the time, they had the lowest prices on what I was looking for and was quite pleased with ordering/shipping. The other two kilns came from wholesalers. If you have an account at D&L, they typically have pretty good prices and are good folks.
Dana
-
Kingman_Arts
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:52 am
Re: Medium size clam shell
Thanks for the response. We have a 24" barrel type Skutt with no elements in the lid we got in 2000. My wife just got into fusing and will do a small project and wants to see the results right a way (rather than filling multiple kiln shelves and firing when the kiln is full) so that is why I am looking at this size.